The desk has arrived - WAS: Somewhat OT: Freighting Items

[Sean Caron]

LOL ... poor woman ... I could only imagine getting all excited that I was
gonna get a Sun workstation (especially back in the day when that counted
for something a bit above the pale...) and then opening the box and it's
just furniture!! Oh no!!

Best,

Sean


On Tue, Sep 22, 2015 at 11:45 AM, Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 22 Sep 2015, Ali wrote:
>
>>
>> http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/878/retro-scan-of-the-week-the-official-ibm-pc-desk
>>
>
> I likde those.
>
> I gave three of those to the college for use as classroom machines.
>
> I had gotten them for next to nothing, because they were sized for 5150,
> not 5170.  I made spacers to raise the top panel to fit a thicker machine,
> and put much larger casters on them, for door thresholds, a tiled hallway,
> and the inevitability that they would be rolled over cords.
>
> With a relatively small monitor on top, it provided a comfortaqble podium
> and computer table for teachers to use while lecturing.
>
>
> A few years later, our department chair at the time (PhD from UCBerkeley)
> came running into the lab, squealing, "WE'RE GETTING SUNS!" WE'RE GETTING
> SUNS!"  She had been informed that at the loading dock, there were three
> "Multimedia Workstations" for us.  NO, we never got any Suns.  The
> "multimedia workstations" turned out to be open 3x6 foot computer desks on
> casters.  THOSE were to be our new classroom computer tables!  too deep,
> too wide, not tall enough to use while standing, . . .  They chucked the
> IBM workstations that I had given them (three just like yours) into
> dumpsters.  Why did I even bother?
>
> One of their new classroom/demo machine tables had big rubber wheels, that
> wouldn't turn easily.  They were almost ready to junk it, because their
> "support staff" didn't know that pneumatic wheels needed to be inflated. I
> pumped them up.
>
>
> --
> Grumpy Ol' Fred                 cisin at xenosoft.com
>